Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

Kongu Chola temple `pranala' unearthed

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUCHI, MARCH 22 . A portion of a buried sanctum of the 13th Kongu Chola Temple of Sri Pushpavanamudaiyar at Vettamangalam near Karur has been unearthed by students of the Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College, Tiruchi, recently.

A team of students of the Department of History has unearthed a 55-inch-long `pranala,' a stone structure through which the `abhisheka' water from the sanctum sanctorum flows out.

At present, the temple idols, Sivan and Vedavalli, are kept in the `mukhamantapa' of the temple and worshipped by the locals. The basement of the temple is partially visible.

Suspecting the existence of the sanctum beneath, the students, led by S. Gheetha, a faculty of the Department of History, dug up the northern side of the dilapidated structure and located the `pranala.' Further digging led to the unearthing of a rectangular receptacle that receives the holy water, which has proved the existence of the sanctum, Ms. Gheetha said.

The team also unearthed the half-buried sculptures of Chandikesvara and Kalabhairava in the vicinity.

The villagers also enthusiastically participated in the field study conducted as part of a project work taken up by G. Renuka Devi, a post-graduate student.

Further collaborative studies between the college and the Department of Archaeology, said Ms. Gheetha, would throw more light on the history of the Kongu Chola temples in the region.

Around 14 Tamil inscriptions have already been copied from the place by N. Ganesan of the Department of Archaeology, Karur, with the support of Srinivasan of the Numismatic Society of Tiruchi.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

• New automatic signals and new traffic bottlenecks
• Kongu Chola temple `pranala' unearthed
• MDMK candidate promises ring road, air cargo hub
• Small steps to save up for future pay dividends
• Voting for POTA a mistake: Vaiko
• `Absorb jewel appraisers as bank staff'
• Sanitation campaign
• Plea to raise pension of Muazzins
• Around the City
• In Tiruchi Today

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu